Sunday, September 25, 2011

Macarons on Larchmont - 'lette Macarons

'lette Macarons, the popular macaron shop with branches in Beverly Hills and Pasadena, recently opened a shop on Larchmont Boulevard. Needless to say, I had to check it out.

'lette (the name is short for the owner's name - Paulette) doesn't just specialize in macarons, the colorful and increasingly popular little French sandwich cookies, it's literally all they sell, though they come in a variety of flavors. I picked up a healthy sampling.

Overall, the macarons were good (it's tough to make a bad one) but a bit too sweet. Comparing them to my current favorite macarons from Bouchon Bakery, the fillings in the 'lette macarons have a heavier cream in the middle, more like traditional sandwich cookies than the light, airy fillings that you find in the best macarons. My favorites were the passionfruit and coconut which had strong flavors and were a bit less sweet.

The pricing at this place is very odd. One macaron costs $1.70 but the price for two is $4 (more than double the price of one?!?). A box of six will cost you $10.50, again, more than the cost of six individual macarons. Someone at 'lette HQ should work this out. It's fine not to give people a savings, but charging more for bigger purchases is downright silly.

3 comments:

David D
said...

Yes! You're into the Macarons too! Ever since we went to Laduree in London we've been on the hunt. I think the quality of Lette in Pasadena was very close. We're headed to NYC this week and will be on the hunt there. Supposedly Laduree is opening a location there soon.

first, love your blog -- keep up the whiskey/food reviews, and the parodies for levity!

second, about the pricing; i've seen other macaron places do the same thing, re: charging more for bigger purchases. in many cases, it was because the larger purchase also included a decorative container/box (or at least, that's what i'm assuming...). now, as to whether that's good business sense or not, who knows? these people are bakers first, business owners second